My sister, carol and my brotherinlaw, marty, for traveling here from connecticut for this. And i want to thank tina dunkley and their family for coming. Tina has come in from atlanta. They are the descendents of one of the leaders of the largest single escape of slaves from a virginia plantation during the war of 1812. And since it is monticello we begin with Thomas Jefferson and his words here. And this is a quote that comes from a letter he wrote in response to edward cole, his former secretary. He wrote this letter, and as you can see, august 25, 1814, which is a low point to the United States and its war against the british empire, the war we call the war in 1812 but a war which lasted in to 1815. Now, those of you who know about the occupation and the partial burning of washington will recognize that august 25 was right after the british had occupied washington and while the buildings were burning. Jefferson was writing this letter from monticello so he didnt know yet about that but he knew the war was going very badly for the United States. He had written to jefferson this just that jefferson taken more public role, a more leadership role in the struggle to achieve emancipation. Jeffersons reply was discouraging because jefferson decided that is day four of aggressive Political Leadership had passed and he thought the moment had not yet arrived in virginia or a serious effort for emancipation. But then he had this very interesting passage here in which he suggests that emancipation is inevitable. But he lays out two possibilities for how it could be achieved. One is that virginians would achieve a Generous Energy up our own minds that they would set aside selfinterest in order to advance abate emancipate the sulleys. But then he considers a more imminent possibility. While jefferson has said the moment has not applied for virginia to exercise this Generous Energy, he thought there was another process and one that he saw unfolding as he wrote, which is that the british had come in and considerable arm strength into Chesapeake Bay, many ships of the royal navy. They were rating the shores of the chesapeake and there were mounting increasingly aggressive invasions into the interior which culminated in the capture of washington, d. C. In the process of doing that they were helping insulate people to liberate themselves enslaved people. So jefferson is suggesting that if the war goes on and the british ring Larger Forces and established a permanent presence on land in virginia or maryland, that it is going to start a cycle of liberating thousands of enslaved africanamericans. The language is interesting because Thomas Jefferson was never known to say anything good about the british. But in this passage he is saying that they were offering a sign them up arms to the oppressed. So theres surely no notion that slavery was a just system, and the suggestion you that if virginians do not free the slaves, that the british will force emancipation up on them with the assistance of the oppressed. Let me just go back, point out one phrase in there, the bloody process of saint domingo. Sickening to was a french colony in the west indies which has since libby, the republic of haiti. And during the 1790s there was a very bloody revolution in which enslaved peoples establish their freedom and would eventually in the next decade establish their own republic. This was something that deeply troubled virginians because they feared that their own slaves would engage in revolution and would end the nightmare fantasy kill men, women and children in their beds. And here is an image which expresses that they are i White Virginians that i live on top of a powder keg. This is an image in 1832 and it demonstrates the rebellion. Which does fulfill that fantasy, but whats striking is the rebellion is a one off. Theres nothing else like it. But at last this nightmare scenario is partially fulfilled in southampton county, virginia. This is a longstanding nightmare for virginians, that enslaved people would rise up in rebellion and engaged in indiscriminate massacre. The actual evidence is that while enslaved people were often plotting to escape, they were not plotting mass murder. But this idea of the st. Domingo massacre is something that is resonant throughout the rhetoric, the political rhetoric of virginians during this period. I want to talk about first why are the british in Chesapeake Bay. They did not initially come to liberate the slaves. When this expedition begins, theitheorders are not to liberae than a handful of men who could be useful as guides and pilots. But the british dont want to distribute what they had done during the revolution when they had liberated or held to liberate thousands of enslaved people, men, women and children. And then were saddled with expenses of dealing with a great number of refugees. In this new war, the war in 1812, the british wanted it to be over with as quickly as possible and they want to be left with as few responsibilities from this war as possible. So hence, the orders to enable commanders, only free of human who can be helpful to only free a few men who can be helpful. But what happened instead, about 600, then women and children take it upon themselves to steal canoes and go to the british. Now, the prime british purpose for being an Chesapeake Bay at the start, not to liberate slaves but its to inflict as much damage on the American Economy as possible and to punish virginia, which was perceived to be quite correctly to be the political heart of the United States, the home of president madison, secretary of state monroe, and considered to be a hotbed of support for the war. So the british want to ravage the shores of virginia, and theyre perfectly willing to include maryland as collateral damage. And then they discover as these 600 enslaved people seek freedom by going to the warships that they need the help of these escaped slaves, that they cannot achieve their purpose without them. They do not know the lay of the land. They are very nervous in 1813 about going onshore for fear of ambush. And its only once they get experts on the landscape that they become aggressive about going deep into the interior. And they had to go deep into the interior once they are receiving hundreds of refugees because they, along with the sailors and marines on these ships, have to be fed. Much of the food comes from raiding farms and plantations, and the people who know where the cattle can be found, where they have been hidden, where the bars containing provisions can be found. They are the runaway slaves. They become light infantrymen or colonial marines to be more accurate, guides, pilots, nurses, and by the second year of the british operation in 1814, they are absolutely essential to the success of a more ambitious operation which is raiding farther inland than ever before. So this is not an incidental byproduct of a british operation, this liberation of what will become at least 3000 people from virginia and maryland. This is at the very heart of the transformation of that operation into something far more effective, and much more threatening to the United States in 1814, the second year of the operation. What i want to do now is talk about one particular escape, which i find especially revealing. It occurred on a night in october of 1814 on the virginia shore of the potomac in king george county. When several young enslaved black men stole a canoe and paddled across the river to the maryland shore to a place called laid low fairy. Whether after is a ferry boat. Theyre doing this in the middle of the night. Installed it without waking anyone up and they somehow managed to steal this ferry boat without waking anyone up on the maryland shore. They then take it back to the virginia shore and load up 17 people for a dash down the river in search of the british warship as the portal to freedom. In the morning their masters discovered that their slaves work on and in the words of one master, go, had taken many articles out of mr. Abrahams dwellinghouse in the course of the night and all their own articles in effect of their house, house. In the morning armed white men wrote a swift boat in pursued down the river, but they were too late because the 17 to escaped slaves had become free i reaching a british warship. Now, i want to spend time on this particular escape because its revealing of the overall pattern i find in many escapes. First, this showed very careful planning and organization. This is not a spur of the moment emotional decision. They accomplish all of this, dark of night, without waking up their masters or their overseers. And they managed to empty their Masters House of many possessions, and take their own possessions with them. Second, this shows a twostage pattern which i find in many of these escapes. Theres a first stage in which an initial few young men venture out and try to obtain the means to return to their home farms and plantations in order to retrieve many more people get and in particular to get women and children out. And so we have these three young men when they show steal the canoe. They go into the fray but, i come back and they load up 14 more people. The most common pattern is for the initial leaders, ill call them the pioneers, to steal a canoe, getaway to a british warship and to persuade the british to make a raid on their particular neighborhood in order to get out of their family and their friends. This was the pattern at the plantation in april 1814. In which zeke was one of the early pioneers who escaped to the british on april 18, and then returns with a british Raiding Party guiding them on april 2122nd, and managed to get out another 66 people to freedom. Actually go so you add it up, its 69 and it becomes 70 because one of the women was so pregnant, she gave birth that night on a british warship here she wasnt that determined that her child would be born free. Another pattern that we find in this particular ferryboat escape is that they dont, the runaway slaves dont come from one property. We sometimes have the notion because of the way documents survived from the wealthiest people owning the largest properties, communities for enslaved people bounded by the property lines of large plantations. Now, sometimes thats the case night in the chesapeake, the great majority of enslaved people in 1812 live on farms rather than plantations. Its much more common to find Slave Holdings of three, four, five, six slaves on a form then it is to find 70 slaves on a plantation. There were plantations. There were large numbers. Occasionally. But the most common pattern is many farms. Slavery has become dispersed among many masters. And so in this case they are not all coming from one property, but they belong to four different men, for different farms. So this shows a cooperation that extends beyond the boundaries of a particular property. It helps to reveal the types of neighborhood that africanamericans formed under slavery. And they form these neighborhoods largely at night when they are partially liberated from their neighbor and they can travel to the neighborhood. And it is their expertise gathered by traveling at night, learning the byways, learning how to avoid the slave patrols in order to be with a husband or a wife or their children, old friends, uncles, aunts, cousins. Because its very come its actually uncommon for a husband and wife, and enslaved husband and wife to live on the same farm. They have been split up, or the always lived on different farms. So enslaved people have to learn the landscape, particularly the nocturnal landscape in a more intimate way than their masters ever had to. And it is that nocturnal knowledge that would serve him so well in escaping. And it will serve the british so well in mounting their raids, which almost always begin at night. Now, another feature of this escape which is very revealing of an overall pattern is they are especially valuable slaves in the eyes of the masses. We have the surviving appraisals for them come and we find they are assessed at nearly 8000. Thats because they include two blacksmiths, two carpenters, a weaver and to coax. Would often think of slavery as a matter of field hands, and it is true that over half of the enslaved people in virginia or maryland were field hands. But a growing number had a skill, or they serve as house servants. People who are house slaves who were artisans have a much higher value than did field hands in virginia. And so this is shocked their masters that it was their most high valued and the slaves they felt they could trust the most, he chose they had the skill and were probably treated a little bit better than the field hands, but it is exactly such people who tend to rebel when they have seen a little bit of opportunity and realize how much more opportunity has been denied to them. And finally, we find in these escapes that the age patterns skews toward younger people. It is arduous work to pull off these escapes. Its dangerous here so it is not for the faint of heart. It tends to be young men and women in their 20s and 30s. The oldest member of the 17 who escaped was 35. Skews all of it towards more men than females in it, but this particular group did include two young women and three children. One of the features of the war is that because the british warships are right there in Chesapeake Bay, the inability to get to them with entire family groups is higher than peacetime escapes when people much people must cover much larger difference. In peacetime, its overwhelming, somewhere on the order of 8590 , young men who go. These wartime this gets its about twothirds men and about onethird female. And there are more family groups that go. I want to turn to this letter which was written five and half years after the escape by the apparent leader of the escape. In 1814, you can see his signature there at the bottom, and he was as proud of his signature as john hancock ever was. So five and half years before he wrote this letter in may of 1820, back in 1814 he was considered the highest valued slave to escape from abraham. It was appraised at 800 thats because he was a blacksmith. To be a blacksmith is hard, physical labor but it also requires a great deal of intelligence and an ability to keep accounts. Is also the oldest member of the escaped a group at 35. So he was a natural person to be a leader in the slave quarters. And from the tone of this letter its clear that he was the leader. By may 1820 he was thriving, and you can see where he is thriving from the very top, because letter some early 19th century usually very conveniently put the place and the date, preston, nova scotia. Where is nova scotia . We know where that is but where is preston . Its a black township formally enslaved people settled there after the war of 1812 and comprised the majority. Its near halifax. Now, he was thriving as a free man and he wanted his former owner to know it. He wrote this letter. I realized in the back row you are not this is a struggle to figure out whats going on. Probably a struggle in the front row to notes going on so i read it. This is why i wear glasses because i read letters like this for a living. Sir, i take this opportunity of writing these lines to inform you how i am situated here. I have a shop and a set of tools of my own, and am doing very well. When i was with you, you treated me very ill. And for that reason i take the liberty of informing you that i am doing as well as you, if not better. [laughter] when i was with you, i worked very hard, and united gave me money nor any satisfaction. But since i have been here, i have been able to make gold and silver as well as you. The night that coakley stopped me, he was very strong but i showed him that subtlety was far preferable to strength, and brought away others with me who thank god, are all doing well. So i remain bartlett. Ps, my love to all my friends. I hope they are doing well. [laughter] so this is an extraordinary letter. Ive read thousands of letters as historian over the years, and i think this is the most important letter that i found. So what do i make of it . I ask you what you make of it, and i would welcome your thoughts but this is what i make of it. As a free man, bartlett was especially proud that he could make his own money. Now, the enslaved people of virginia overwhelmingly were third, fourth, fifth generation people in america. They were not fresh from africa. They understood very well the society around them. They understood that it valued people in terms of the money they could make and the possessions they could display. They felt frustrated. What bartlett and once to say, he makes his own money and hes as good a man as any man. Indeed, come he is a better man. So what do i think is implicit . I think bartlett suggesting that he has made his and more his money more honestly out of his own labor rather than out of other people. Coakley. To his coakley . I do know. Im only guessing. I havent been able to find them in historical records. My guess is he was the overseer working there. The only thing we can tell is to think. One, he was a strong man, a powerful man. Mustve been very powerful is if he was more powerful than bartlett. And he did something to try to abstract this escape, and then the most wonderful phrase in this letter from historians perspective is that shanklin says subtlety is superior to strength. This is a theme that many historians working in slavery and resistance to slavery have emphasized. The ways in which enslaved people had to be clever to hide the resistance to make it more effective, and here we have a former slave putting it out there explicitly that thats exactly what had happened. Somehow shanklin had fooled coakley in order to pull off this escape and achieve freedom for 17 people. A final question. How is it that this letter survived . First off, im not surprised to find a letter written by a former slave. This is a period before the 1832 law outlawing the teaching of literacy to enslaved people. During the previous generation, literacy amongst slaves is more common than i think we have recognized. Im guessing that most of them were literate, but im saying its more common to find literacy in that period than either during the colonial era or subsequently after 1832. Almost all of the enslaved people have become christians, either baptist or methodist, and many of them want to be able to read the bible. And their preachers want them to be able to read the bible. And often for those who are arsons their masters want them to be able to keep accounts. So shanklin as a skilled blacksmith is one of the enslaved people who is most likely to be literate. I cannot tell you when he learned this letter state, whether was after he became free or before, but i do think his hand is a pretty good one to compare very will to lots of people in virginia, white and black, from this period of time. And certainly the signature is very practiced. Now, how does a letter survived . His master saved it and he submitted to the federal government in order to get compensated for the 11 runaway slaves, the 11 of the 17 at the ground. The federal government set up the claims commission after the war to compensate masters who could prove that their slaves had escaped and had gone to the british. Now, this letter is worth 280, times 11, because he will get 280 for every former slave that he can document went to the british. And this is his best piece of evidence. So i found this in the National Archives in the records of this claims commissiocommissio n, a phenomenal set of records. So it is his choice to seek money to preserve shanklins words for us to read today. Just a couple of concluding images to wrap up this extraordinary story of a war in 1812 escapes but here is a map that represents British Military operations in Chesapeake Bay in 1814, and you see this particular some of a burning house. That represents that represents a sure rate. You can see they are along the Northern Neck of virginia. Thats what the british targeted. Why did they target that region . First reason, there is a black majority in those counties and they can get the assistance of a lot of people running going to them if they go there. Highly rural county so its difficult to resist these attacks, and theyre also the gateway to washington, d. C. The british are preparing, thats a longterm goal, to strike at washington, but first they have to neutralize militia resistance in Southern Maryland and in the northern area. They want to keep americans guessing as to whether the attack on washington will go up the potomac or the river and may ultimately they will choose maryland. There was no resistance until they got up to the head of the river and he did not and to the got to the outskirts of washington, d. C. I argue in the book that disability for the british to neutralize resistance in Southern Maryland and partial in the Northern Neck depended on the assistance that they were receiving from the former slaves, several hundred of them had enlisted to become colonial marines operated, one of the best trips the british have. Why are they the best trips . Because they are the most highly motivated and they are the least likely to desert. Where as the british had a problem with the white sailors and marines running away to americans to make more money as american civilians. These former slaves do not desert to go back to life in the United States. This is an image produced right after the war in 1812. The details of this convey the message. Its the u. S. Capitol building and it shows the fire damage from the british and from the colonial marines who assisted in this operation. But whats especially interesting in the upper right hand corner you see a representation of lady liberty. And then just below lady liberty in the lower right hand corner you see enslaved people. This is a common sight at the national capital. So what is suggested in this image is that slavery had brought this on, a guilty nation. They needed to mend its ways to restore divine favor to the United States. The final image, this is the only known photograph to survive of one of the escaped slaves from the United States during the war in 1812. This is a much later photograph, from 1892 when he was 92. So he was 15 when he escaped, in very early 1815 from calvert county, maryland. His name is gabriel hunt, and he would go to nova scotia with this photograph was taken and he would prosper as a farmer. This, some people, prospered from the escape economically, but it certainly has to be said that most of those who went to nova scotia endured poverty. And the government of nova scotia, which was not enthusiastic about taking in refugees, provided to them by the royal navy, encouraged them to go back to slavery in the United States, suggesting that they would be warmer and happier as slaves than as poor people in nova scotia. And how many do you suppose accepted this invitation . [laughter] zero. They had decided that they were free, they might be poor but they were free. They could make some of their own money and keep it. But the most important thing for them was they could live together as families. The worst thing about slavery in their experience was that each individual was treated as a piece of property who could be sold separately by their master whenever the master so decided or whenever a court so decided. Or they could be ruptured or divided by an inheritance or an auction as the death of a match as happened in monticello after jeffersons death. And so the most important benefit that they found was that they could live together as families with greater security than they ever could while they were slaves in the chesapeake. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much. I told you that he has a lot of unique material, and that letter, especially is a real gem. There are a lot of parallels with the American Revolution. The associations, the networks that existed, even been suggested that information could travel hundreds of miles through different slave networks. The assistance given by slaves to the british, the one state that the british really took during the American Revolution was georgia. It was campbell who was led by a slave called dolly. And also, you know, going to nova scotia, but interestiinteresti ngly the parallel with nova scotia is very equally fully treated, and from nova scotia that they led the expedition to sierra leone. I dont know if you want to just a comment on any of the parallels with the earlier which is obviously on a larger scale, but between the two events that represents the biggest Emancipation Movement in america before the civil war. And then when we do take questions from the audience, please wait until the mic gets to you because we are on cspan. Well, cassandra who has worked on the question of the escapes from the revolution suggests that about 6000 escaped from virginia, and about half of them died of disease before they could leave virginia. And so that there were about 3000 who left virginia during the revolution and were relocated to nova scotia. And so its actually a comparable number who will leave from maryland and virginia and go to nova scotia. I estimate about 2000 ended up in nova scotia. So they keep difference is its a much healthier experience in terms of, they are not subject to the same smallpox epidemic that killed so many of those who escaped during the revolution. But do virtually all of them were relocated during the 1790s to sierra leone in west africa. So nova scotia went from having a black population which was pretty substantial given the small size of nova scotias white population, having taken virtually no black people. And then theres a new surge of that comes in the war of 1812 and this new group makes it quite clear they are not going anywhere. British dont try to send them to sierra leone, but they suggest they go back to virginia. Or i should say the authorities in nova scotia, because the home government in britain didnt want to send them back to slavery. The home government in britain did suggest as an alternative they go to trinidad, and a large number of the enslaved people who escaped, those who serve in the colonial marines, and their families, such as zeke, went and had gone to trinidad and they have prospered to a greater degree than those in nova scotia. But those in nova scotia, only about 95 accepted the invitation to join the Group Already in trinidad. So why werent they willing to go . Its because they dont want to get on ships again, and they especially dont want to go on ships that will go along the american coast on the way to trinidad because they are nervous, can they trust the ship masters not depicted in and make a fast buck by selling them in an American Court . Or might they risk a shipwreck and end up on the american coast . They knew they would not be treated as free people is that happen. So they are quite clear they are not going to trinidad. Only 95 we take that risk. Would take that risk. Its a really bad talk if there are no questions afterwards. My feelings will be hurt. The microphone is moving around. Im curious how this exit is change the way white southerners look at slavery. You usually think of baking soda as a pivot point. Thats a great question and i think something does change. What changes is that up to the war of 1812, white opinions are overwhelmingly supportive of the federal government. They see it as their federal government. Thomas jefferson has been president the he is succeeded i james madison. Madison will be succeeded by munro. Washington had been president. Virginia is the biggest state, the most populous state, the most influential state in the union. So they expect that the federal government will do what virginians want done. But what does virginians want done most of all during the war of 1812 . They want the federal, to defend them. And that means not just defended against british raids but defend against their own slaves escaping to the british. But the United States, for a variety of reasons, is overwhelmed by this war. Theyre not able to raise enough troops. Are not able to supply the troops adequately. They have decided to make a priority in getting candidate so almost all the us troops are sent to invade candidate and that leaves very few u. S. Regular trips to defend virginia. Almost all of them are at norfolk, leaving all of these other expos peninsulas vulnerable the british attack, and it imposes a great expense and a great hardship on the militiamen, common farmers and artisanartisans from the way pee have to put down their tools and plows and go and deal with these raids. And it frustrates the leaders of virginia. So the standing of the federal government in virginia goes way down. Also, the war of 1812 is a period in which new englanders are becoming far more vocal than ever before in denouncing slavery in order to attack virginias leadership of the nation. So virginians are getting really defensive about these attacks on their morality because of their slavery. So they come out of the war thinking, the federal government is not really worth very much to his gun and what happens if it gets into the hand of these new englanders who engage in this rhetoric which virginians find to be insulting and reckless . And then in 1819, a new york republican congressman introduces our resolution do not admit the territory of missouri as the state unless it comes in with a constitution which provide for the gradual emancipation of all its slaves. And this leads to a blowup. And the status most accept about the missouri compromise, the state that is most adamant is virginia. So my reading of this is that the war of 1812 is a very important step along the way of virginians the citing that the whole union is something they dont entirely trust, and that they have to greater solidarity with their fellow southern states, solidarity that hadnt always been evident before the war of 1812. So im not arguing that its in the one critical watershed on the way to the civil war. But im saying its an important step, and a very long process of many steps. Thank you for your presentation. Im curious to know, what could be said about repercussions upon those who are left behind . And what disincentives so to speak might have been imposed upon them . I wish i had evidence on that, and i dont. I do have some evidence for what happened to those are caught trying to escape. And what seems to have happened was they would be with within an inch of their lives and then cast into jail for a while while the owners would arrange for their sale very far away from the coast. Usually to the deep south. Almost all of these cases come as far as i can tell all of the escapes occurred in tide water. I do not know of a single slave from the piedmont escaped to the british in the war of 1812. And so the decisions made, when they suspect anybody of trying, or they catch anybody trying, then they have to send them far away and turned them in to cash and make sure that they are punished that way. Thats about as severe punishment you conflict and summer, probably never to see that family again. The british would tell runaway slaves that they should never try to go back because the americans would hang them. But i havent found any evidence for any hangings. And, indeed, i think it would be unlikely because if you hang someone, you lose the value of them as property. And virginians had a policy of the state compensating people who were masters for slaves who were executed. And i cant find any compensation for executed runaway slaves during the war of 1812. Questions here. And also here in the front. Thank you also. Is it not the case that the Virginia Legislature of 1830 failed to pass a law abolishing slavery in virginia by only one vote . Im not clear it was just one vote, but i think what youre thinking about is that in late 1831 it is a debate in the house of delegates over whether virginia should consider a plan for the very gradual emancipation of their slaves. Linked to the forced deportation of the free blacks to liberia. And at that time West Virginia was part of virginia and that was a part of the state that was most willing to support such a plan. And the plan was pushed very hard by Thomas Jeffersons grandson. Thomas jefferson randolph. And its a plan that went back to his father, that you try to advance in the state legislature in the previous decade, and it goes back to Thomas Jeffersons own plan. So this plan had been out there for a while, then an associate with the jefferson family. Its a plan that was completely unfeasible, but it is the only thing that virginians could possibly consider as a mode of emancipation. And it turns out that by a vote more than a single vote, i commemorate a clue what it is, they decide to cut off for the debate and just will not consider the question. And that is the last time, as far as i know, that the Virginia Legislature considers any proposal for any form of emancipation, even very gradual and under Thomas Jefferson randolphs plan, it wouldve taken several generations to free virginia of its slaves, and it would have come if you didnt follow through which it could not have been followed through because no one was about to levy the tax is and, in fact, enslaved people overwhelmingly did not want to go to liberia. Liberia was a pretty grim situation, particularly for disease. And this became pretty well known. So gradual emancipation linked to the socalled colonization turns out to be a nonstarter for many reasons, and thats what that episode was about. We also have a question here. How many successful escapes to trinidad were you able to find . I dont know of any escapes that went direct to trinidad. What would happen if these people would escape the british, the men would become organized as colonial marines, women and children would come along and they would be in the refugee camp. Later, some of them would be dockworkers in bermuda, and women and children. And after the war, the british would relocate them to trinidad. So this kind of the division. Some will go to nova scotia, some will go to new brunswick, and some will go to nova scotia excuse me, to trinidad. Those who go to trinidad are overwhelmed associate with the marines and they are settled in particular communities known as company counts. They were given each their own village. And the noncommissioned officers, colonial marines, then became the local magistrates of these communities. They became the local readers who were responsible for maintaining order and determining justice in these communities. So in the end its one big escape to trinidad, which is organized with the help of the british. Another question here. Thank you for that very insightful presentation. Question, did you perchance run into any letters from trinidad from these refugees about their experience, you know, with a letter going i would suspect it would be difficult coming from the other direction. I did not find any from trinidad. I found letters that came from scotland, from london. I found the accounts of a former slave who ended up in spain. So while i say that they wen weo trinidad, no kosher, new brunswick, some of them became global travelers. One of the escaped slaves, theres this account of his conversation with his master after the master came on the ship. The british allowed master to come on a ship to talk to their former slaves because the british want to make a point that they were not kidnapping the blacks anyone want to go back to their masters could. Well, this one slave said, quote, i was born to travel the world. Now, he was in a position to do much traveling as a slave in virginia, but by becoming free he could. So hes the one who into in spain. I have an account of a former slave in the gap in india. I dont have letters directly from those in india and spain. I have one phone from maryland who became a dentist and deployed a white man working for him in london. So there are a whole array of extraordinary stories, now from trinidad what i do have is the letters of some white people who visited trinidad to investigate what went on and report the conditions there. And so there are several of them, and one of them worked as an agent for Joseph Cabell for whom the hall is named, one of the founder of the university of virginia. He was also one of the owners of the plantation, the one were 70 people, 6970 people became free in april 1840. He wants to know what happened to his former slaves wer we senn agent of the trinidad and then he describes what the agent reported to him. And it concluded the names of some of his former slaves. I dont believe that report mentioned seek, but it mentions dick carter. About this same time, im not sure about your dates, but the british, they did and emancipation of their slaves some way peacefully and got it done without any problems. How did they accomplish that . Well, i wouldnt say it was without any problems, because certainly the masters in the west indies just about all the slaves the british had at the time were in the west indies. Slavery had become technically illegal in the mother country, in england, wales and scotland. As you can imagine there were very few enslaved people there at that time. But there were thousands, at least as many, there were more slaves in the west indies than they were in virginia in 1812. So its not like the british hands are completely cleaned. They are conducting slavery in the west indies at the same time that for their own purposes they are helping enslaved people in the chesapeake become free. But they are at least true to the word. There is this canard after that food british took the runaway slave and sold them to the west indies, and its not true. I looked into this very closely and that chapter and verse and Joseph Cabell and investigate this three very different and he concludes not of them were slow ashbourne none of them were sold into slavery by the british. They set up these societies in trinidad where you have some free black people so that experience, living righ right no enslaved people but this makes the planters in trinidad really nervous at but the government of trinidad, theres a crowd governor and the council is no elected legislature, has no interest in bowing and scraping to their planter class. Indeed, they are kind of nervous about the planter class a little bit, so having this particular element of freed blacks, the british officials seem to be in their interest. They might use it at the planters make trouble. They could use if slaves rebelled. So they made clear to these former con marines if theres a slave revolt they were supposed to help suppress it and theyre supposed to catch runaways and not receive them into their communities. So its only in the 1830s the british will make a concerted effort, Parliament Passes law for the gradual emancipation through this kind of stage of apprenticeship for enslaved people in west indies. Often they get impatient and they will rise up. And demand more immediately. So it is a little tangled process but it is true that the british pull this off without a civil war. But thats fairly easy to do when the Political Center is in london and the planter class has only limited power by the 1830s, in parliament. Much less so than it appeared that andrew has studied so well in the 18th century when the planter class was far more intellectual in parliament than it was in the 1830s. I guess this is the last one. Im just wondering, did the british consider sending them to sierra leone . Was that an option or was that too far more expensive or did the freed slaves not want to go back to africa . Thats a good question. I dont see any evidence that they propose sierra leone for the war of 1812 refugees. Why not . Sierra leone was pretty well understood that it turned out to be a disaster. And a third expensive disaster in the lives of the people sent there and in cost to the british. The Sierra Leone Company went bankrupt and the British Government was left holding the bag. So they dont want to repeat that. So not of these former american slaves end up in sierra leone, as far as i can tell. Thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible conversations] booktv is on facebook. 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